- Default options set to be the same for both drivers
- Printing text was actually missing from the gs version. This was re-added and the top-margin problem fixed
- Fixed small bug in pdf interface code
- Now works in grafpup 2.xx

I believe that the ghostpdf.ppd used for the gs driver is the same as that used in most 'free' pdf printers available in windows. It offers a lot more options including lots of page formats, image compression, pdf version conformance, etc. I would recommend the gs version over the ad one.

Update 20070506
Version 0.2

- Displays a file selection dialog so you can specify where to save the pdf.
- Allows specification of a default location to store all generated pdfs (configurable via xpdq)
--make sure to click "Set as default" when configuring this option via the xpdq interface.

The major difference between the two packages is that the adobe version handles text files better than the ghost script version. The ghostscript version gives a large top margin when writing pdfs from text files. The only other difference is the license.

NB Both packages/printers can be installed at the same time without problems.

Original Post
This pupget package pdfprinter_pdq-0.1 is 8k/27k/8k compressed/uncompressed/installed. It creates a printer (similar to those found on windows) that outputs pdf files. CUPS-PDF does the same thing but requires CUPS and produce lesser quality pdf.

Package contents
~~~~~~~~~~~~

File /etc/pdq/drivers/ADIST5.PPD
Adobe Distiller5 PPD file (license permits redistribution once not modified). This is removed after installation. Someone more familiar with licensing issues can indicate if distributing a modified pdq version of this file would be breaking the license. If not I can just packaged the only two files needed.

File /etc/pdq/drivers/extra
Contains language_driver's to add printing of plain-text (tested) and images (not tested) to the converted pdq driver created from the Adobe Distiller5 PPD file. The snippets in the file comes from drivers already in puppy (generic-postscript-1.2 and hp-2500-cm-2.0). If anyone knows of any license issues with reusing those pieces of code please let me know. So far I haven't seen any. This is removed after installation.

File /etc/pdq/interfaces/pdf-0.1
Creates a pdq interface called pdf which allows you to add a pdf printer.

Folder /usr/local/ppdtopdq
This directory contains perl scripts and modules to convert ppd files to pdq. Could be useful for porting other printers' ppd drivers to pdq. This is removed after installation.

Installation
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Install the package with pupget/petget/pkgtool/gpkgtool package manager. NB the conversion from ppd to pdq driver requires perl --so to install this in Puppies/Grafpuppies without perl you would need to install perl or the devx module (I think that has/had in perl subject to correction). This package was tested with puppy2.13 and grafpup2 alpha4.

Usage
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once installed, a new printer named 'pdf-writer' will be added. By default pdfs are created in /var/spool/pdfs with filename YYYYMMDD-hhmm-ss.pdf with a resolution of 1200dpi. Some applications don't allow printer selection, in that case you will need to set 'pdf-writer' as your default printer. These options can be changed via xpdq. For future releases I hope to have a dialog/file chooser to allow you to specify the filename and location at print time (volunteers welcomed). Also in the immediate future I hope to create a pdfprinter_cups for CUPS (for the times when pdq isn't adequate).

It looks good, but:
-with Grafpup 104 it prints blank pages.
-it works properly in Puppy 2.14 from the XPDQ interface, but I can't figure out how to print to it from an application - eg in leafpad I get this error:

Code:

lpr: error - no default destination available.

any ideas?

BTW, how does the quality compare with printing to file and then converting to PDF with Ghostview?

disciple: I'll look into Grafpup issue. The leafpad error is probably due to not having a default printer set.

As for saving to a file and then converting to pdf with ghostview (ghostscript): The saved file must be (converted to) postscript and it is the quality of the postscript file that determines the quality of the pdf. The quality of the postscript file depends on the application and or printer driver.

However, if you are referring to puppypdf (puppy's pdf converter) that requires abiword and can only convert file types supported by abiword. The quality of the abiword produced pdfs is rather good and maybe be more or less the same. However, the pdf printer allows you to specify the resolution (quality) in the printer options.

Note however, that the main reason for this pdf-writer printer is to be able to print 'directly' to pdf without requiring a lot of dependencies. This feature comes in especially handy when printing web pages and receipts of online transactions. In terms of requirements it only needs pdq and ps2pdf (ghostscript).Last edited by jcoder24 on Thu 03 May 2007, 16:01; edited 1 time in total

I forgot to mention that the a new version that brings up a file dialog so you can specify where to store the generated pdf is available. This was completed sometime ago but wasn't posted due to the lack of interest amongst the community. For that same reason I've put off looking into a CUPS version.

I'll try to upload the new versions tonight. One uses a converted adobe distiller file (the 'old' version) and one uses a converted ghostscript ppd. The ghostscript version offers more options for configuring the printer than the adobe version but doesn't print text files as well (at least not yet).

These new versions displays a file selection dialog so you can specify where to save the pdf. It also allows you to specify a default location to store all generated pdfs in via an interface option --make sure to click "Set as default" when configuring this option via the xpdq interface.
NB Both packages/printers can be installed at the same time without problems.

Many thanks for this useful app. I'm a little idiot for searching xpdq interface
This is : Setup - Xpdq printer management (see the screenshot).
The quality of pdf (adobe) is very good and the size is small.
Thanks a lot.
-vati

Just downloaded from forum. Will report back for the results with version 2.15

Thanks!

Update:

With OpenOffice 2.2, there was no printer recognize.

With AbiWord and Gnumeric, PDF Printer is recognize.

With Seamonkey/Firefox, There was no printer recognize.

With GanttProject and FreeMind (both are Java programs), There was no printer recognize.

With QCAD and Inkscape ver 0.43, There was no printer recognize.

OpenOffice 2.2, GanttProject and FreeMind has an option to export files to PDF.

Seamonkey/Firefox can only print postscript files but the output files have inconsistent formatting.

It seems that Xpdq is not recognize by all programs. Is there a way to make it recognize by Seamonkey/Firefox, QCAD and Inkscape? Even though OOo 2.2, GanttProject and FreeMind can produce their own PDF file, I would still want them to use Xpdq for UI consistency.

Just wondering out loud, isn't printing a part of the system which should make it automatically available to all applications? The reason I ask this question because I am trying to convince co-workers and other people to use Puppy Linux. Whenever the discussion is stirred towards certain issues such printer setup or pdf creation, though I can show it to them how it can be done, I, myself, is still getting stumped.

discipleI'm thinking that with CUPS installed it may be 'set' as your default printing system. In that case, printing would most likely use CUPS rather than PDQ. If this is true, then you will have have to find out how to switch between the two. You will have to check with one of our CUPS gurus for this. However, once I'm done with the PDQ version I can try a CUPS version now that there is some interest. I think it should actually be easier.

metre9dmt

Quote:

Some applications don't allow printer selection, in that case you will need to set 'pdf-writer' as your default printer.

This seem to be the case with a lot of applications eg with firefox printing to the printer "Postscript/default" prints to the default printer which I have set as pdf-writer. In opera i have to enter "lpr" as my printer program before it allows me to print. Hope this helps.

... depending on how you define system, printing is part of the system. Basically, once printing is set up, it's available to all applications. However, the application must have a means of using the printing system available. It can be as simple as running a "cat" on the file and redirecting to lpr or as complicated as converting to postscript before sending it to the printer.

metre9dmt - isn't the PDF printer you can see in Abiword and Gnumeric something else that is already in Puppy to start with? Or am I confused?

No. Before I installed the PDF Printer, the said option is not available to these programs. But when I installed the PDF Printer, it became available.

Me thinks that since AbiWord and Gnumeric is already organic to version 2.15 CE, it may have easily recognize the PDF Printer. But I maybe wrong because SeaMonkey (which is part of the said distribution) won't recognize the PDF Printer. I just added GanttProject, FreeMind, OpenOffice 2.2, Inkscape 0.43, QCAD and Firefox to the said distribution (along with some games).

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